Competitors Biographies
Usain Bolt
Bolt became something of a sporting sensation when he swept to triple gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics – setting new world records in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay in the process.
The Jamaican distinguished himself early on with gold in the 200m at the 2002 World Junior Championships when he was only 16. Two years later he set a new world junior best time for the 200m in 19.93sec, but injury prevented him from showing his best form at the Athens Olympics and he was eliminated in the first round of the 200m heats.
A succession of further injuries halted his progress until 2007 when he bettered Don Quarrie's 200m Jamaican national record with a time of 19.75sec and scooped silver at the World Championships.
Bolt began running more 100m races in 2008 and set his first 100m world record at the New York Grand Prix in late May with a time of 9.72sec, improving his previous personal best of 9.76sec which was made earlier in the month.
He continued to record good timers in both the 100m and 200m as the summer of 2008 wore on but no one could have predicted his remarkable success in Beijing.
Bolt cruised through the 100m heats and stormed away from a classy field in the final to win by several metres in a new world record time of 9.69sec, which could have been even faster had he not slowed down visibly at the close of the race.
He followed up with an equally commanding display in the 200m, breaking Michael Johnson’s 12-year-old world record by two-hundredths of a second in 19.30sec, becoming the first athlete ever to win the two Olympic sprint titles in world record times.
But he went one better – helping Jamaica to win gold in the 4x100m relay in a new world best time of 37.10sec. In so doing, he also became the first man to win all three events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984.
Christine Ohuruogu
Born in 1984 in Newham, East London – less than a mile from the site of the 2012 Olympics stadium – Ohuruogu swept to fame when she won the 400m gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
A member of Newham and Essex Beagles Athletics Club, Ohuruogu showed early promise when winning a 400m bronze at the 2003 European Junior Championships. She became British champion in 2004 but could only make the semi-finals at the Athens Olympics that year – though she was aged just 20 at the time.
She took double silver at the 2005 European Under-23 Championships, winning medals in the 400m individual as well as 4x400m relay.
Christine was also a semi-finalist at the 2005 World Championships though did win a bronze in the relay.
She struck gold for England in the 400m at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and was then suspended for a year after missing three drug testing appointments. Just three weeks after her return she surprised the athletics world by storming to gold at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka and adding bronze in the relay.
In Beijing, Ohuruogu outpaced pre-race favourite Sanya Richards of the USA into bronze to win in a time of 49.62sec. It proved to be Great Britain's only track and field Olympic gold of the 2008 Games.